Hi all, this is pretty long, but bear with me.

Let me first say this makes abolutely no sense, but i thought i would ask anyway. I have a 94 3.0 auto truck. All options, power everything. About a thousand miles ago it started making a loud squeek that I first simply thought was a belt and ignored it. However I have since changed all belts, with the exception of the timing which was replaced about 2k ago.

If the truck sits at an idle in park it will start to squeak/squeal intermittently.

Here is where it gets weird. In an effort to track this noise down, I took off the power steering belt and vwoala, no squeak. I drove (without power steering) around for a while and no symptoms. put the belt back on and squeek is back. But it only does it when there is a very slight pressure on the power steering and intermittently as stated above. I can leave it parked, and turn from full crank to full crank and not have one squeek, but if i put a little pressure on the steering wheel, right before the tires actually turn, it will squeek as long as i hold the steering wheel in position.

I thought it was the power steering, but i had a friend hold the steering in the position where it squeeks and i crawled all around the truck listening to it and there is not any noise coming from any of the belts or the steering box. The noise is very loud under the truck right under the bell housing.

Any ideas as to what the heck is going on? And why it would only do it with a very light load on the engine / power steering? I tried to replicate the problem by turning on all my lights, and a/c to place a similiar load on the engine and no squeek.

Torque converter maybe? Rear main seal?
Any suggestions appreciated.

 

If I read right you could not make the truck do it at while the P/S belt was off.....I would start to think that is the bearings on the P/S pump or the P/S belt tensioning pully.....

 

yeah what he says....

 

Ditto to "dragon" & "jc".
You could go to the local auto parts store & get a stethiscope("?") that you could then probe around on your pulleys with to find which one ("tensioner"?) it is.

 

Yeah it's a bearing somewhere. When it gets slightly loaded up it's squeeking. Beyond using a stethascope to try and find it you can often take off the belt and spin any pulleys the belt is rolling over by hand. If the pulley doesn't turn freely, that's likely the problem.

 

throw out bearing?

 

Thanks for all the replies.

On the 3.0 V6 the power steering pump is the tensioner and it turns freely even by hand, no problem at all..

DudeBud, thanks for the suggestion, but its an auto, no throw out bearing on this one.

Update... It only does this in park.. I can put it in drive, turn the steering all i want and not one peep. This is while holding the breaks so the same load is on the pump.

I actually stopped by a local dealership on my way home and they were all complimenting on truck. I think it motivated them because they were trying to figure out what the problem was for about an hour and a half and were unable. I was even out in the shop bs'ing with the guys.. Cost me nothing for the diagnosis because they were unable to diagnose the problem.

Told me they have electronic ears that they can place on the parts they suspect and drive it around to see where the most noise is coming from but it might be costly with the time. But really i cannot hear it at all driving. Like i said, only seems to do it in park.

So were stumped right now.

But keep the suggestions coming..

 

Uh, "Dirty", I've got an automatic 3.0 V6 in mine & I have a PS pulley "&" a tensioner pulley...don't you?!?

 

nope.

power steering runs off 3 pulleys on my 94

1, the main crank (fixed)
2, the waterpump / fan (fixed)
3, power steering pump, (tensioner) you move the pump up or down to place tension on the belt.

Similiar as the alternator on the other side.

The only belt that has a tensioner pulley is the A/C pump.

 

"Dirt", do you have A/C in your rig ?
If so you, like I, should find a approx. 3" dia. "tensioner" pulley right there in under the A/C compressor.
Take a look & let's see what you find.